MANifest Destiny: Santa Barbara

Growing up in Dallas and living in New York I’d never spent much time on the west coast, but I decided to head west for 8 days. The drive would take me up the coast to find out for myself whether the west truly was the best coast or just easier to rhyme than east. It was a week long journey that I will share a portion of each day, so caulk your wagons and join me on… MANifest Destiny.

Day 4

We caught up with an old pal for lunch at Beverly Hills Deli before we headed up to Santa Barbara. Oddly the place was identical to a bodega back home and equally as cheap and good. With a full belly  we were back on the road with a couple modifications being made to my driving attire in light of recent sunburns. A hat, a very healthy dose of epicuren sunscreen, Arnette Dropout shades and Fox Dynomite boardshorts have become my driving attire. Why the suit? I’m a sweaty hot mess driving all the time so why burn clean clothes just to sit in a car.

A very nice La Quinta welcomed us in Santa Barbara which was a pleasant surprise considering the rate, not to mention it was walkable to all the bars and restaurants of State St. I’ve always been a sucker for cities that revolve around a main street, so needless to say this excited me greatly and it didn’t disappoint. From a buy one get one for .25 cents to a nice meal at Finch and Fork and a Monday night dance party at a bar, the main strip of Santa Barbara is as diverse as the homeless that crowd it.

In the blink of an eye or dance induced haze, our time in Santa Barbara came to an end and it was off to tackle the windy roads of the Pacific Coast Highway up to Carmel the next day.